Graphic Novels. Focuses on the potential of comics and graphics novels in teaching and learning.

Ladders of Your Own.
Learn to find your own book-Internet connections. This section provides
links to book awards, authors and illustrators, book pages, lesson
plans, search tools, and other useful websites.

May 15, 2008

Sporting an eye-catching cover, packed with more than 700 reviews and suggestions, and written in a voice that speaks directly to teens, The Ultimate Teen Book Guide (Walker, 2008) offers young adults more than one summer’s worth of reading. Edited by Daniel Hahn, Leonie Flynn, and Susan Reuben, this is a great resource that will appeal to teenagers and the librarians and teachers who work with them.

The recommended titles were selected by more than 200 enthusiastic reviewers—teens, authors, librarians, and teachers—avid readers all, and the resulting compilation is a just-right medley of classics, horror and romance stories, mysteries, fantasy, and other popular genres.

Arranged alphabetically by title, reviews are a mere half-page long, the perfect length for a brief description or an enticing hook; each is also paired with a list of books to read next, either by the same author or of a similar type. All reviews are signed, and brief but insightful biographies of the reviewers can be found at the back of the guide. In addition, there are several “Top Ten” lists scattered throughout, including, “Character You’d Most Like to Be,” “Book That Scared You the Most,” and “Best Book About Relationships.” An index of book authors and spreads that zero in on topics such as “Cult Books” and “Race in Young-Adult Fiction” afford additional entry points.

The appealing layout, with varying font sizes and and pull quotes, is an added draw.

While the guide’s unintended strength as a readers’ advisory and collection development tool is apparent, it can also serve to encourage students (and staff) to write and compile their own reviews. Just be sure to keep a copy within easy reach (and a few for checking out) when teens hungry for a good book come through library and classroom doors.

May 05, 2008

What Do Children Read? Hint: Harry Potter's Not No. 1
*
• Full Report: What Kids Are Reading (PDF)
*
• Rowling Keeps Company With Seuss, Blume and Steinbeck

What Do Children Read? Hint: Harry Potter's Not No. 1

By Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 5, 2008

Children have welcomed the Harry Potter books in recent years like free ice cream in the cafeteria, but the largest survey ever of youthful reading in the United States will reveal today that none of J.K. Rowling's phenomenally popular books has been able to dislodge the works of longtime favorites Dr. Seuss, E.B. White, Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton and Harper Lee as the most read.

Rowling Keeps Company With Seuss, Blume and Steinbeck

Books by the five well-known U.S. authors, plus lesser-known Laura Numeroff, Katherine Paterson and Gary Paulsen, drew the most readers at every grade level in a study of 78.5 million books read by more than 3 million children who logged on to the Renaissance Learning Web site to take quizzes on books they read last year. Many works from Rowling's Potter series turned up in the top 20, but other authors also ranked high and are likely to get more attention as a result.

"I find it reassuring . . . that students are still reading the classics I read as a child," said Roy Truby, a senior vice president for Wisconsin-based Renaissance Learning. But Truby said he would have preferred to see more meaty and varied fare, such as "historical novels and biographical works so integral to understanding our past and contemporary books that help us understand our world."

Michelle F. Bayuk, marketing director for the New York-based Children's Book Council, agreed. "What's missing from the list are all the wonderful nonfiction, informational, humorous and novelty books as well as graphic novels that kids read and enjoy both inside and outside the classroom."

Heightened language—one possible or partial definition of poetry—isn’t the first thing one associates with comics. Yet comic book artists take into account the way words appear on the page to a degree poets will find familiar. How many lines should accompany each image? How high should the dialogue balloon float? The ratio of printed words to blank space plays a role in whether a poem or strip succeeds.

The best of the daily humor strips (think Peanuts) have produced thousands of word-and-picture episodes that occupy about the same thought-space as a good short poem; the terseness can resemble haiku. Then there is Krazy Kat, George Herriman’s polyphonic masterpiece that appeared in William Randolph Hearst’s papers from 1913 to 1944 —a comic feature so blessedly idiosyncratic in its dialects that the only way to start making sense of what’s said is by reading it aloud, like a poem.

As a way to help readers discover (or rediscover) our archive, poetryfoundation.org has invited some of today’s most vital graphic novelists to interpret a poem of their choice from the more than 4,500 poems in our archive, reaching from Beowulf to the present.

Kicking things off is David Heatley, best known for his meticulous renderings of his dreams, always haunting and frequently hilarious. Heatley brings his faux-na�ve draftsmanship and masterful color sense to the first two stanzas of Diane Wakoski’s 1966 poem “Belly Dancer.” According to Heatley, “I picked the poem because my work tends to deal with sexuality. My book Overpeck features a teenage girl dealing with her abuse issues while coming to terms with her newfound supernatural abilities: namely, turning herself into a duck so she can hide or fly away.

“Wakoski is writing her poem for the women of the early ’60s, daring them to become more sexual and inhabit their bodies,” he continues. “I liked the tension and dissonance of translating some of those themes into my work.”

Heightened language—one possible or partial definition of poetry—isn’t the first thing one associates with comics. Yet comic book artists take into account the way words appear on the page to a degree poets will find familiar. How many lines should accompany each image? How high should the dialogue balloon float? The ratio of printed words to blank space plays a role in whether a poem or strip succeeds.

The best of the daily humor strips (think Peanuts) have produced thousands of word-and-picture episodes that occupy about the same thought-space as a good short poem; the terseness can resemble haiku. Then there is Krazy Kat, George Herriman’s polyphonic masterpiece that appeared in William Randolph Hearst’s papers from 1913 to 1944 —a comic feature so blessedly idiosyncratic in its dialects that the only way to start making sense of what’s said is by reading it aloud, like a poem.

As a way to help readers discover (or rediscover) our archive, poetryfoundation.org has invited some of today’s most vital graphic novelists to interpret a poem of their choice from the more than 4,500 poems in our archive, reaching from Beowulf to the present.

Kicking things off is David Heatley, best known for his meticulous renderings of his dreams, always haunting and frequently hilarious. Heatley brings his faux-na�ve draftsmanship and masterful color sense to the first two stanzas of Diane Wakoski’s 1966 poem “Belly Dancer.” According to Heatley, “I picked the poem because my work tends to deal with sexuality. My book Overpeck features a teenage girl dealing with her abuse issues while coming to terms with her newfound supernatural abilities: namely, turning herself into a duck so she can hide or fly away.

“Wakoski is writing her poem for the women of the early ’60s, daring them to become more sexual and inhabit their bodies,” he continues. “I liked the tension and dissonance of translating some of those themes into my work.”

Heightened language—one possible or partial definition of poetry—isn’t the first thing one associates with comics. Yet comic book artists take into account the way words appear on the page to a degree poets will find familiar. How many lines should accompany each image? How high should the dialogue balloon float? The ratio of printed words to blank space plays a role in whether a poem or strip succeeds.

The best of the daily humor strips (think Peanuts) have produced thousands of word-and-picture episodes that occupy about the same thought-space as a good short poem; the terseness can resemble haiku. Then there is Krazy Kat, George Herriman’s polyphonic masterpiece that appeared in William Randolph Hearst’s papers from 1913 to 1944 —a comic feature so blessedly idiosyncratic in its dialects that the only way to start making sense of what’s said is by reading it aloud, like a poem.

As a way to help readers discover (or rediscover) our archive, poetryfoundation.org has invited some of today’s most vital graphic novelists to interpret a poem of their choice from the more than 4,500 poems in our archive, reaching from Beowulf to the present.

Kicking things off is David Heatley, best known for his meticulous renderings of his dreams, always haunting and frequently hilarious. Heatley brings his faux-na�ve draftsmanship and masterful color sense to the first two stanzas of Diane Wakoski’s 1966 poem “Belly Dancer.” According to Heatley, “I picked the poem because my work tends to deal with sexuality. My book Overpeck features a teenage girl dealing with her abuse issues while coming to terms with her newfound supernatural abilities: namely, turning herself into a duck so she can hide or fly away.

“Wakoski is writing her poem for the women of the early ’60s, daring them to become more sexual and inhabit their bodies,” he continues. “I liked the tension and dissonance of translating some of those themes into my work.”

February 19, 2008

In Books for Young, Two Views on Product Placement
By MOTOKO RICH
Published: February 19, 2008

Specifying a character’s brand of lipstick, shoes or handbag is a commonly accepted way to add an aura of reality or consumer aspiration to books aimed at young readers: just think of “The Gossip Girl,” with that series’s abundant references to Prada and Burberry. But what if writers and publishers enlisted companies to sponsor those branded mentions, as is the widespread practice in Hollywood?

Authors of two book series have come to separate conclusions: in one case, the writers tried it and then changed their minds; in the other, for a new series to be published next year, the author, who owns a marketing company, said she planned to give corporate sponsorship a chance.

With “Cathy’s Book: If Found Call (650) 266-8233,” a genre-bending mystery for young adults by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman that was published in 2006, the authors learned that product placement could be a touchy subject. After their publisher, Running Press, an imprint of Perseus Books Group, revealed that the authors had agreed to have characters wear specific makeup lines made by Cover Girl in exchange for promotional ads for the book on beinggirl.com, a Web site aimed at adolescent girls and run by Procter & Gamble, Cover Girl’s parent, the book came in for criticism.

Ralph Nader’s advocacy group, Commercial Alert, urged book review editors to boycott it, and the novelist Jane Smiley wrote a disapproving op-ed article for The Los Angeles Times; The New York Times wrote a critical editorial as well.

Now the novel — which features a series of clues that are given out in voice mail messages, Web sites, letters and other documents included with or referred to in the book — is set to come out in paperback on Monday, and all the references to Cover Girl’s products have been removed.

February 07, 2008

If you believe a scary US report, reading is on the decline. But, says Steven Johnson, it completely fails to consider the amount that we do every day on our computers

* Steven Johnson
* The Guardian,
* Thursday February 7 2008

The NEA makes a convincing case that young people are reading less, but it completely excludes reading done on computers

We've been hearing about the decline of reading for so long now that it's amazing a contemporary teenager can even recognise a book, much less read one. The US (where I am) seems to be cycling through yet another "Johnny can't read" mini-panic, sparked by the release of a National Endowment for the Arts study, called To Read Or Not To Read, which chronicles in exhaustive statistical detail the waning of literary culture and its dire consequences for society. Newspapers dutifully editorialised about America's literacy crisis.

It's the sort of "our kids in peril" story - right up there with threats of MySpace predators - that plays well as a three-minute television newsbite or a three-paragraph op-ed piece. But if you actually read the report, what you find are some startling omissions - omissions that ultimately lead to a heavily distorted view of the Google generation and its prospects.

January 21, 2008

Move over Melville — comic-style books are popping up in classrooms throughout Dane County, giving educators a new tool to teach literature.

Graphic novels, a literary form that marries bold art and often edgy text, have persuaded reluctant students to open books and are providing a new way to teach visual learning, area educators and librarians say.

Libraries have long been aware of the value of such "sequential art" in helping students become better readers, said Hollis Rudiger, a former librarian at UW-Madison's School of Education. "It's the classroom teachers that are finally starting to see the value," she said.

This fall, students at Monona Grove and DeForest high schools studied graphic novels in English classes. Next year, if there's enough interest, Monona Grove plans to offer an art class focusing on the novels and cartooning.

"I'm very, very excited about teaching this class because it's a step in a different direction," said Judith Durley, a Monona Grove High School art teacher who proposed the class.

Educators say graphic novels speak to students — especially those who feel disenfranchised or can't be dragged kicking and screaming to read classics like "Moby Dick."

December 24, 2007

Twilight of the Books
What will life be like if people stop reading?
by Caleb Crain December 24, 2007

A recent study has shown a steep decline in literary reading among schoolchildren.

“To Read or Not to Read”;
National Endowment for the Arts (N.E.A.);
Reading;
Books;
Statistics

In 1937, twenty-nine per cent of American adults told the pollster George Gallup that they were reading a book. In 1955, only seventeen per cent said they were. Pollsters began asking the question with more latitude. In 1978, a survey found that fifty-five per cent of respondents had read a book in the previous six months. The question was even looser in 1998 and 2002, when the General Social Survey found that roughly seventy per cent of Americans had read a novel, a short story, a poem, or a play in the preceding twelve months. And, this August, seventy-three per cent of respondents to another poll said that they had read a book of some kind, not excluding those read for work or school, in the past year.

If you didn’t read the fine print, you might think that reading was on the rise.

You wouldn’t think so, however, if you consulted the Census Bureau and the National Endowment for the Arts, who, since 1982, have asked thousands of Americans questions about reading that are not only detailed but consistent. The results, first reported by the N.E.A. in 2004, are dispiriting. In 1982, 56.9 per cent of Americans had read a work of creative literature in the previous twelve months. The proportion fell to fifty-four per cent in 1992, and to 46.7 per cent in 2002.

Last month, the N.E.A. released a follow-up report, “To Read or Not to Read,” which showed correlations between the decline of reading and social phenomena as diverse as income disparity, exercise, and voting. In his introduction, the N.E.A. chairman, Dana Gioia, wrote, “Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement.”

This decline is not news to those who depend on print for a living. In 1970, according to Editor & Publisher International Year Book, there were 62.1 million weekday newspapers in circulation—about 0.3 papers per person. Since 1990, circulation has declined steadily, and in 2006 there were just 52.3 million weekday papers—about 0.17 per person. In January 1994, forty-nine per cent of respondents told the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press that they had read a newspaper the day before. In 2006, only forty-three per cent said so, including those who read online. Book sales, meanwhile, have stagnated. The Book Industry Study Group estimates that sales fell from 8.27 books per person in 2001 to 7.93 in 2006. According to the Department of Labor, American households spent an average of a hundred and sixty-three dollars on reading in 1995 and a hundred and twenty-six dollars in 2005. In “To Read or Not to Read,” the N.E.A. reports that American households’ spending on books, adjusted for inflation, is “near its twenty-year low,” even as the average price of a new book has increased